Means of escape from submarines.



W. J. KENELY.

MEANS OF ESCAPE FROM SUBMARINES.

APPLICATION man DEC. 5. 1914.

Patented Sept. 7, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

INVEIV TOR William JKenely A 7TOHNEY8 WIT/V68 8..

W. J. KENELY.

MEANS OF ESCAPE FROM SUBMARINES.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 5. I914.

Patented Sept; 7, 1915.

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2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

INVENTOR William J. Kene MEANS OF ESCAPE FROM sUBMAR-INEs,

Application filed December 5, 1914.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, WILLIAM J KENELY, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of .New Jersey, have invented a new and Improved Means of Escape from Submarines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

This invention relates to submarine navigation, and has particular reference to safety appliances for submarine boats.

Among the objects of the invention is to provide a means of escape for the occupants of a standard submarine boat.

More definitely stated, I provide for a submarine boat substantially watertight compartments adjacent the top or any other convenient wall of the structure in'which all of any number of the occupants of the vessel may congregate in the event of accident or disaster incapacitating the propelling or controlling means for the vessel, and from which such occupants mav set themselves free from the; stranded vessel and float to the surface of the water in life preservers or otherwise.

"The foregoing and. other objects of the invention will hereinafter be more fully described and claimed and illustrated ,inthe drawings forminga .part of this specification, in which like characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views, and in which i 1 Figure 1 is a side elevation of a diagrammatic representation of a submarine boat furnished with my improvement, parts of the same being broken away; Fig. 2 is an enlarged vertical'sectional View of the immediate improvement;- Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the top of the compartment with the doors closed; F ig.4 is a sectional detail on the line 44 of Fig. 3; Fig. 5 is a similar detail on the line 55 of Fig. 2;

and Fig. 6 is a sectional detail on the line 6-6 of Fig. 3.

- The several parts of this device may be made of any suitable materials, and the relative sizes and proportions, as well as the general deslgn of the mechanism, may be varied to a considerable extent without departing from the spirit of the invention Specification ofLetters Patent.

Patented Sept. "7, 1915. Serial No. 875,649.

of. a submarine boat, the top or upper deck of which is indicated at 11. At 12 is shown a compartment within the hull 10 and shown preferably located just below the deck- 11 and of a size or capacity to accommodate all or .part of the crew at one time. This compartment 12 is designed to be wa'ter-' which may leak into the compartment or itmay be used to discharge water that has been intentionally flooded into the'compart-' ment.

At 14 I show the air tank through which fresh air, oxygen or the like may be supplied to the interior of the compartment through a pipe 15, the same being controlled by any suitable valve 16. The air tank 14 may be understood in some instances as representing any suitable form of air pump which may be utilized to discharge foul air from the interior of the compartment and replace it with fresher air from the main portion of the submarine vessel.

One or more doors 17 may be provided through the deck 11 to give access to the interior of the compartment 12. In this case two of these doors are employed, each hinged at 18 to the deck and adapted to swing downwardly or inwardly around such hinge. One of the doors 17 overlaps the other along the free edges thereof as shown at 19, and the meeting edges of the doors and the deck frame surrounding the same are preferably corrugated and provided with a packing material indicated at 20. See Figs. 5 and 6. Any suitable means may be provided to lock the doors rigidly shut under normal conditions. Among these means I employ a plurality of lag bolts 21 operated through the edges of the doors into the frame and also through the adjacent or overlapping free edges of the doors along the ridge 19. I also provide for the portions of the doors remote from the hinges 18 a pair of dogs 22 pivoted at 23 and hooking under the ends of that door which overlaps the other. Said dogs are held from rotation on their pivots by means of keys or wedges 24 driven between the same and rigid lugs extinding-below the under surface of the dec At 26 I show a valve controlled inlet for admitting water into the compartment from the exterior of the ship. At 27 I show a pressure gage which will indicate the degree of atmospheric pressure within the compartment atany time.

At 28 I show a door which typifies any suitable means to gain access to the interior ofthe compartment from the main part of the vessel, the same being equipped with suitable hinged and fastening devices. The meeting edges of the door 28 and its frame are also preferably packed with a gasket 20 fitted in corrugated opposed surfaces.

The operation of the device may be briefly described as follows: In the event of accident 'or disaster disabling the controlling mechanism' for the vessel, the occupants thereof may assemblewithinthe compartment 12 and close the door 28, or if there are more than one compartment, some of the men may assemble in one and some in the other. When within the compartment the men will apply their life belts or the equivalent, and then will flood the compartment through the nozzle 26 to a depth substantially up to their chins or as high as-may be necessary to avoid injury to themselves when the doors 17 are opened. With the dogs 22 in holding position, the lag bolts 21 may be removed by some of the men with suitable tools, and then the keys or Wedges 24, upon being knocked out of place, the

. ample time will be afforded for the manipucape therefrom.

dogs will be free to swing on their pivots allowing the doors to swing inwardly either 'by'their own weight or by the same in .con-

junction with the external water pressure. If, however, either of them should stick, it may be started by the driving of one or more wedges 29 between the same and the fresh air to-the upper portion of the compartment in which the men are working,

lation of the devices just described. After the doors are opened, the men may esca e readily from the compartment 12, any suitable number of bars or hand rails 30 being provided to assist them in controlling their movements within the compartment and es- I claiin:

1. In a submarine boat, the combination of a compartment of a size suitable to hold the entire crew, means for the crew to have access to the interior of the compartment, a doorway leading from the compartment to the exterior of the boat, a door hinged along one edge to the frame of the doorway and adapted to open inwardly, a series of lag bolts passing through the edge of the door and into the structure surrounding the doorway for holding the door shut under ordinary conditions, auxiliary holding means serving to temporarily hold the door shut after the lag bolts are removed, said auxiliary holding means comprising a dog pivoted opposite each end of the door and each jacent the top of the boat, a doorway leading from the compartment to the exterior of the boat, a pair of doors hinged at their opposite edgesalong opposite sides of the doorway and overlapping each other at their adjacent edges, a plurality of lag bolts passing directly through the doors and locking the same to each other at their overlapping edges and to the framework surrounding the doorway holding the door shut, a pair of dogs pivoted to the doorway frame opposite the ends of the overlapping portions of the doors, each dog including a point extending to one side of the vertical plane of its pivot and adapted to swing downwardly under the action of the doors, a rigid lug secured to the doorway frame adjacent but spaced from each'of the dogs, and a wedge driven normally between said lug and the adjacent door serving to hold 'the dog in position to temporarily sustain the doors shut after the lag bolts aforesaid are removed. 1

In testimony whereof I have signed, my name to this specification in the presence of two. subscribing witnesses.

WILLIAM J. KENELY. 

